To Give a Bible

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11, NKJV.

For the past seven years my wife, Brenda, and I have worked with the Northern Hill Tribes in Thailand. We have focused most of our time on the Lua people. Most Lua are subsistence farmers. They do not like any change, and resist new ideas. They have little education, and not much in terms of material possessions.

One evening, I was visiting a Lua village and noticed a man walking towards me with a Bible in his hands. This caught my attention, as I had never met this man and the only believer in this village was a former witch doctor named Udom. I had given Udom a Bible, but as far as I knew that was the only Bible in the village.

I struck up a conversation with the man to find out what he was about. Through our conversation I learned that the man’s name was Tuan. He had heard about the LORD from Udom, and Udom had given him the Bible because he couldn’t read it.

Tuan could read it, and had decided to follow the LORD because of what he read in the Bible and because of the testimony that Udom had given. I thought to myself, “What a great missionary I am, I give a person a Bible without even bothering to find out if he could read it!”

Yet I also marveled at God who allowed His word to find its way into the hands of Tuan. It really is true, God’s word does not return void, but accomplishes everything that He sent it to accomplish!

Pray that:

A church will be established in Nang Plaa, Udom and Tuan’s village.

God will help Udom and Tuan grow in the grace and knowledge of the LORD.

Gospel seed will find its way to prepared hearts among the Lua.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.